Conversations in strategic publishing
Every enterprise has good reasons to publish books. Whether you want to change the way people think, establish yourself as a thought leader, package important ideas, or capture history, you can do it with a good book. And that book can be a website, a paperback, an ebook, an audiobook, or an app.
From 3 November, join us on Zoom for weekly conversations on strategic publishing, hosted by Arthur Attwell. We expect a small group of thoughtful people, gathered over tea to talk about publishing books for impact. Arthur will introduce a topic, and then lead a conversation about what it means for organisations putting books in the world. Bring your questions and experiences, or just come to listen.
There is so much to think about. How do we make sure our books achieve their aims? How do we produce them? Find the right team? Ensure they’re well produced? Make sure they reach an audience? These are tough questions in a fast-moving world.
These conversations are free to join; you only need to register in advance. Register once, and you can attend any event in the series.
Each session is at 3pm UTC on a Wednesday, and lasts 45 minutes. See this time in your time zone.
If you’re registered, you’ll receive a Zoom link by email beforehand.
3 November 2021 Will people buy a paper book that’s free to read online?
If you publish a book to the web publicly, readers can find and share your work easily. This is great for impact. But do you lose valuable paper book sales when your content is online for free?
10 November 2021 What is an ‘interactive’ ebook?
Few words have as many different meanings as ‘interactive’. In what ways might readers interact with a book on screen? What kinds of interactivity stand out in a world of flashy web apps? And what does ‘interactivity’ cost?
17 November 2021 What is a book when it’s also a website?
More and more organisations are publishing books directly to the web, each chapter a web page. What do book websites look like? How are they made? And what do they cost?
24 November 2021 Are there business models for online books?
Most people are far less likely to spend $10 on an app than on a paperback. And even fewer will spend that on access to a website. What does this mean for publishing revenue, especially when we’re publishing to the web?
Future topics
Our initial series of conversations is over, and we’re considering holding further calls in 2022. If you’re interested in attending these, let us know or register above to hear when we schedule them. Potential topics for future calls include include:
- Do people really read books as websites, in their browsers?
- What should I pay for multi-format book production?
- What’s the difference between a web book and an online course?
- Is an ebook a product or a service?
- To publish digitally, does my team need to know HTML?